Whatever we do and wherever we are we need some love in our life to survive. There many ways to know what love is about. Among them, reading books and novels are one of the ways. These are the ten top most romantic novels that will get you into what love is about and melt your heart.
1. It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover
When I read this book for the first time, it would remind me of a lot of just a love triangle type of romance. To be honest the first 40% I wasn’t crazy about it and I thought I was going to put it down and moving on to the next book and I didn’t think I was gonna like it. But then you hit a certain point in the book and reality sets in real quick about what this book is actually about. It’s very intense, it is very emotional, it was frustrating, it was infuriating, it was disparaging, depressing, and it was inspiring all the same time. I really thought that the way this book was set up was absolutely brilliant, and the way this whole book was set up is my favorite part about it.
Clean-cut decisions are not always going to be an option when it comes to certain situations. This definitely rings true for this book, where you see Lily go through some of the most devastating periods of her life, where she’s truly faced with her own turmoil, and you are thrust right into that turmoil with her and you get to see decisions become blurred. Even your own decisions as a technical observer of this book become blurred because you understand what Lily is going through and you’re seeing all of these characters and you are going to have a relationship built up with all these characters.
What happens in the first 40 to 50 percent of this book and it’s very important to establish that relationship with these characters because that at that point, you have the same relationship with those characters that Lily does. That’s the way I feel like it was built up and I felt like it was so important that it was set up that way and I would have to say that Colleen Hoover is pretty genius for setting it up that way.
It’s certainly one of the most unique and poignant stories that I’ve ever read. It pays a beautiful tribute to the fragility, and the fortitude of the human heart, and the conflict therein. It’s extremely multi-dimensional, and it’s extremely multifaceted. It very much reminds me of looking at something from far and seeing it as being the beautiful thing then you get closer and closer to it, and you start to see all of its flaws, you start to see that it’s kind of run down and a little dilapidated. That’s what this story reminds me of just how beautiful something can look on the outside and then how rotten something can be on the inside.
This book is definitely not your standard romance but this is a real situation with fictional characters with real decisions, with real heartache, and this is so different from Colleen Hoover’s other books. The story was definitely written for a purpose, at the very end of the book Colleen Hoover does explain why she felt the need to write this book.
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2. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Starting in 1945 post-war Scotland, Outlander tells the story of Claire Randall who is on a second honeymoon with her husband. While out on a walk, Claire finds herself in the middle of an ancient stone circle. Suddenly she is hurled back in time into 1743 Scotland. Claire finds herself in the midst of clan battles and various different dangers that threaten her life. Even a young Scotsman who tests her fidelity to her husband.
Diana Gabaldon’s research is really stunning and I can see that she really did her research just everything from mapping out this world, detailing the looks of 1743 Scotland everything down to food and clothing, historic sites, the medication, and surgical procedures of the time period. This book can get a bit lengthy and a little kind of boring on occasion because there is so much description. But overall I do think Diana Gabaldon’s research and her descriptions were stunning and really gave me a sense of being in this world.
This book starts in 1945 post-war and Claire used to be a nurse during the war. She witnessed firsthand kind of all the dangers of the war and seeing all these terribly wounded men come into her presence. Claire is a very modern woman for 1945, which is fantastic because she’s intelligent, independent, and she doesn’t just kind of sit around and let her husband or any of the males think for her. She’s also deeply in love with her husband Frank though you quickly learn that they have some issues going on between them, since they’ve been separated for the majority of the war, and so that’s basically what this second honeymoon is for them to kind of reconnect and regrow their relationship.
Claire has a great sense of wits and humor and she is in no way dull or boring but Claire could also be highly stubborn and demanding what she wants to be. I love that Claire’s personality continues and carries over into 1743, a time notorious for women, and not having the same rights as men. It was surprising how quickly Claire kind of adapted to be in 1743.
There are tons of characters that populate in this book, probably too many characters, and some of these characters only pop up for a couple of chapters. This book is pretty explicit and delves into some deep issues. There’s a huge family tree in this book. There are many twists after twist. It is a good romance story also a touch of fantasy to historical fiction. This book has some very mature subject matter make sure you can handle that before going into this book.
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3. Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell
It is a civil war epic that takes place in Georgia mostly in Atlanta. It has basically taken you through the beginnings of the war kind of the peak and the aftermath and reconstruction, and how it affects the south obviously Georgia specifically. The book centers around a couple of families but mainly it centers around Scarlett O’Hara and her family. You can see her kind of progression from the beginning of the book of being like a typical southern belle, who just wants to go to parties and wear pretty dresses to a mature woman through some pretty terrible things. What’s interesting about this book is you do find yourself sympathizing with the confederates a little bit because you see the kind of devastation that they lived through during the war, after the war, and how difficult it was for them to rebuild.
The first character is Scarlett O’Hara because she is our main girl. She stays a very selfish, brutal, cold-hearted character throughout the entire book. But the main character was just so despicable. The only one thing I will mention about Scarlett was that she did have a very strong survival, instinct when she met obstacles she faced them head-on into what she had to do to survive and to overcome them which is an admirable trait. But still, she did some very horrible things to people, manipulated people, flat-out, lied, and she was just not a nice person.
The other character is probably my favorite character from the book and that is Rhett Butler. He is Scarlet’s love interest, there is a love story going on in this book which typically makes you gravitate towards the story. He was a lot like Scarlett and that he was very outspoken, he did what he had to do, he didn’t really care what people thought about him which was good. But the difference between him and Scarlett was that he was not manipulative, he was very forthright about his opinions, and about his intentions, and I think overall he was a good person whereas Scarlett was not.
There’s a lot of characters in this book obviously but the last one that I want to mention briefly is Melanie. She was the opposite of Scarlett and she was very naive, she was like a pushover. She just never stood up for herself and she took everything. By the end of the book though, I really respected her and I really thought that she had a big heart and a lot of Honor. She was all-forgiving, she always gave people another chance, she often tried to help and reach out to people, she actually was a real character opposite to Scarlett.
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4. Dark Lover by J.R. Ward
It is a romance series about vampires. This book is really for adults. The main characters are Beth and Wrath. Wrath is the vampire and Beth is the half-breed that he falls in love with or lust within the beginning. Their chemistry is as in a lot of romance stories, quick and unrealistic but its more romantic fantasy.
The vampire mythology like they are gonna change things, they are gonna make change it for the good, they are gonna change it for bad, like sparkling vampires, and I feel the J.R Ward actually did very well adding her own mythology to it. They still can’t go out in the Sun, they drink blood, but it’s a little more complicated like they drink blood from humans but really they also need to drink from each other to get better energy and that’s an interesting concept, an interesting idea that they played on that.
All the vampires were interesting characters and they had their own little things like each they had like a special thing about them or a curse about them. It was interesting to see like all vampires can have cursed and each of them is special in some way. Another thing for the mythology is Rap and he is the king of vampires.
The enemy that they are fighting against its not just humans, that they’re like a vampire, hunter of humans. They lose their soul and they become immortals but they kind of become vampires without vampirism. The way the story was written was very nice. It was an intriguing idea kind of different thing. The story was at its core interesting. It was really an interesting story as a whole. She’s a half-breed and she needs someone to help her through it all she could die and she doesn’t realize it until they tell her.
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5. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice tell us the story of the Bennet family and their five daughters. Because there’s no son to inherit, the estate is entailed away in the event of the father’s death. So it’s important that the girls find husbands to secure their future. But finding and keeping respectable matches proves to be quite difficult.
The matter on which I gave more attention is to the growth and transformation of the two main characters Elizabeth Bennet, and Mr. Darcy whose love story is one of the most timeless in all of literature. But really all of Austin’s characters are the lovable and the repellent, are so vibrant and memorable, and the awkward and distressing difficulties that the protagonists find themselves in are so relatable.
There’s also nothing quite like Austen’s mastery of the English language. I really appreciate a well-turned phrase and there are certain lines and speeches so sharp that I’m always compelled to read them aloud. I do delight in her absurd depictions of the more ridiculous personalities there are several. Her commentary is most searing when it comes to the more despicable individuals, whose flaws she exposes in prose sparkling with sarcastic wit.
There were two things that really stood out to me. One thing was that Darcy smiles a lot more than the adaptations give him credit for not that he’s like grinning or anything but he does smile his face does move. The other thing was how frequently Darcy and Elizabeth actually see each other like three conversations and then he proposes.
There were also two chapters that really stuck out to me when I read. One was chapter 36 where Elizabeth reacts to Darcy’s letter it’s a crucial turning point for the story as well as for both of their characters, and I thought it was marvelously executed. The other is chapter 60 the second-to-last chapter in which Darcy and Elizabeth finally have their feelings all sorted out and so they can be more relaxed. They’re just talking and it’s the first time since before his first proposal I think that Elizabeth allows herself to be playful and tease him. It’s just wonderful, if you have any lingering doubts about them as a couple going forward I think this seals the deal.
I find Mr. Bennet’s affection for Elizabeth is unquestionably his favorite, really touching especially when he voices his concern of seeing her end up in a situation, where she can’t respect her husband something which is plainly an allusion to his own situation. The drastic way Charlotte Lucas’s encouragement and acceptance of Mr. Collins affects her friendship with Elizabeth always fascinates me.
Pride and Prejudice is a book about young women searching for husbands. But it’s quite a dire situation they’re facing if you think about it trying to select a suitable partner from among a relatively small group of local candidates. The choice of a spouse is a lifelong decision with benefits or consequences that the individual will reap for the rest of his or her life. But in this story Austen never lets things get too serious for too long.
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6. Vision In White by Nora Roberts
I think Nora Roberts on the whole box that trend, as this series in particular the female characters are written in a really relatable way, in a really likable way and the main thread of the series is the friendship between the four characters and the romance stories.
The story is of these four female best friends who have been best friends forever and they’ve decided to open up a wedding planning business together. It split into the four departments of the business which is Mac who runs the photography, Emma who runs the decorations, Laurel who runs the food and the baking aspect of it, and Parker who is the head of the business who helps the wedding party with the rest of the details for their wedding.
Parker is a very wealthy woman and so they live on a massive estate where they hold most of the weddings because it’s a big beautiful estate, where there are lots of different places in the complex for weddings to take place. They all live there together and like I mentioned they’re all absolutely best friends in the world. Most of the four books in this series are about their sort of banter and their closeness and being there for each other in various difficulties that take place whether it’s their business or their private life.
Obviously, being a romance series the romance does come into it however it does take a front seat on the whole to the friendship angle of it which I think is really unique. I find that this series does manage to be a book that is a guilty pleasure if you’re not a huge fan of romance novels but at the same time you can’t be too guilty because it is decently written.
The order of the book series is the first one is a vision in white which takes place in Mac’s point of view which is full of romance, book two which is Bed of Roses which takes place in Emma’s point of view, book three which is Savor the Moment which takes place in Laurel’s point of view and book four which is called Happy Ever After which is in Parker’s point of view. Among all the four series the Vision in White is the most romantic one.
The four characters are so distinct and different but at the same time, you can totally understand why they’re best friends. They complement each other perfectly like one might be more confident in a situation another one might not be or they just support each other through all of life’s ups and downs which is a really nice thing to see. You don’t really see a book purely about female friendships that don’t have men getting in the way of it. The romance sort of sit alongside the friendship stories and rather than getting in the way of it or anything like that.
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7. The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
The Hating Game is basically about two co-assistance to co-CEOs in a book company or like a publisher’s house. Two companies merged together and they became one. Therefore there are two CEOs because there are two companies merged together. So there is like the assistant for one of the CEOs and the assistant for the other CEOs and they’re like co-assistants. Basically, they hate each other, they sit right in front of each other like their desk or like facing each other. They hate each other and they play games that’s why it’s called the hating game. While they play the staring game and then there comes a new position for a third CEO and they’re both running for it.
Each other CEOs put their names because they think they both should get the part and not the part but like the position. So after they know that they’re competing with each other something happens in an elevator and they kind of like figure out if they’re friends if they like each other, and if they hate each other. Then there’s a third person involved and then Joshua’s family is also like he’s not close with them for a specific reason. The reason behind it is a huge part of the book and then in the end she kind of like figures out why is he not talking to his dad and it’s a whole bunch of stuff.
I love this book and it was the best book in 2018 for me. It has the best combination of suspense and romance because you don’t know what really is going on. There’s the hate to love relationship that I love. They hate relationships in books in the starting, there’s also a little competition then in the end it’s just like the cutest thing ever when they start loving each other. I think this is a great book. I feel like it’s not one of those books that are slow for it to start something exciting to happen. In this book, those exciting things happen from the beginning to the end. Once you start reading, you could not put it down it was just such a good book.
Sally Thorne is such a good writer. I love the fact that she wrote such a good book. I will never ever get over this book. The whole scene is in the elevator. I love that how he’s just making out with her and she’s just confused like what’s going on. I thought they hated each other and then he shows up at the bar and basically shows that he cares for her. That’s kind of moment that she was amazed. I love how wasn’t him at the other guy Danny. Whenever she likes to try to talk with Danny, he was like cranky and he just cannot see them together and the way he acted at the paintball activity event at their office towards Danny was just hilarious.
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8. The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory
The writer of this book I would like to mention was a new writer for me. I have read her book in the past which is her first book The Wedding Date and this is her second book The Proposal. So Jasmine is a new bright voice in the romantic genre of writing and I really loved her style because in her other book also it represents multicultural or diverse relationships and the characters are amazing.
What this book looks like is a typical romantic and comedy setup. What happened is the female character her name is Nikole Paterson, she’s a freelance writer, and the male character Carlos, he is a pediatrician. What happened was that Nik the female lead she went to a Dodgers game with her actor boyfriend and his friends and brothers and what happened was that at the end of the game she saw a very unexpected unwanted proposal on the scoreboard.
They have only been dating for last five months and on the scoreboard, the proposal was stating her name and even he can’t spell her name correctly which was a turn off for her that he didn’t know her and he’s proposing her in front of so many people, and camera. She said no but saying a no wasn’t the hardest part but to leave and see all that disappointing faces of the fans and the stadium was the hard part for Nik.
At the same game Carlos, the main character went to watch the game with his sister and the brother and they rescued the female character. From there they took her for a drink and from there they exchanged their numbers. So as the story moves forward what happened was that for Nik she thought that in the wilds of LA for Carlos, he wasn’t looking for a permanent relationship so for her. Carlos was her rebound and for Carlos, he took it as a no string relationship with her. So what happened was that as she embarked on the journey with Carlos, which was filled with fun, food, family, dramas, and some passionate moments, it became very attractive and unavoidable for both of them after a while.
But when their rules which were set that they will not get serious in their relationship and anyhow rules are to be broken so when they thought that they are going above that limits and they are breaking the rules what they set up. In the story, they showed that one of them has to be smart enough to put on the break and take a break but after taking the break kind of the story starts. After taking the break they realize that even though they are highly professional, and they’re very busy in their own lives and families, and they call with her friends, even then they started to miss each other.
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9. Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
In this story, after losing her job Louisa Clark is desperate for employment because she is her family’s sole source of income. So she takes a job that is completely out of her comfort zone as a caretaker for a quadriplegic man and it ends up being much more than she bargained. The writing of this book was really simple yet really beautiful and I think that it used like as few words as possible to tell the story but it told the story really effectively because of that.
As far as characters go, I really enjoyed Louisa. I found her to be super quirky, super fun, and kind of annoying but that made her really realistic and I think that’s why she felt like a real character to me. She really did not know what she wanted to do with her life which I thought was realistic. The quadriplegic man that she ends up taking care of was a really hard character to love but that was very obvious from the beginning that that was intentional. Will is very clearly stuck in his own life and it’s just kind of heartbreaking to see because there’s nothing that anyone can do that can fix it. Honestly, his character just really made me want to live my life which was a huge motive through this book. The side characters in this book were for Louisa’s boyfriend, her sister, her father, and her mother.
The plot is with a great romantic story but it didn’t just focus on romance. I really liked that the plot guides to do something rather than just sitting and doing nothing that was such a central part of the plot. I thought that was really strong and I also really liked how it dealt with really important issues. This book brings them up and makes you talk about them, so it really starts a conversation which I think is great even though you might not agree with time how it deals with the things.
It’s one of those things that not everyone is going to be comfortable with and everyone has opposing thoughts on it because it’s such an ethical issue but I think that having it brought into the book was fantastic because it needs to be talked about. I really liked the relationship between the two characters you could really see how strong their friendship was and then as it gets developed.
This story will definitely let you cry when you read this book. For that, you should emotionally be connected to the story or the characters to have any real like emotion. It was sad and it did really elicit that strong emotion from me. This book did really made me feel a lot and I think that’s because the characters just did really connect with me.
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10. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
The books tell about an old gentleman who dies that is in 1811 England, so you cannot leave your estate or your house or anything to your wife or daughters, it goes to your eldest son. His eldest son is the product of his first marriage while the wife he’s currently married to and all of his daughters come from his second marriage. So they are basically disinherited and are given a small allowance by the brother but not really anything sustainable and have to move away to those smaller houses. The eldest daughter Elinor who I believe is 19 at the beginning and Marianne who is 17 has to find husbands. They go through parties and balls and attempt to find husbands and maintain social status and also discover more about who they are as human beings.
The novel is from Elinor’s perspective and Elinor is the eldest sister at 19 and she is the one who’s a little more reserved, who doesn’t show her emotions on the outside, who is very proper and dictated by what society deems for women at this time. While Marianne is very rebellious and very open with her opinions and speaks out of turn or is rude to people needlessly. But the cool thing about Austen’s writing isn’t to show how Elinor has those same opinions and these same feelings about having to hang out with these people or having to know be civil to people.
Elinor has the same resentment towards the rules of society at this time. But she deals with that in the way opposite to Marianne rather than openly and outwardly rejecting those customs. She’s like plays into it harder, she’s incredibly gracious to the people she hates and she’s incredibly kind to the people she does not want to hang out with. It’s not just that she’s reserved and plays into society more, it’s just because she likes it more but she plays into it and pushes into these social conventions.
While reading this book I was realizing how true that actually is Marianne starts this book at 17 with the belief that love is eternal, very powerful, and overwhelming force that you can only feel with one person and when you feel it, you will get married and feel that the rest of your life and you’ll be happy for eternity and that’s her outlook. She believes that no one could love a second time.
Marianne believes love is a divine, very poetic, very romantic thing, and by the end of the book she’s grown a lot, she’s matured and her outlook on both the world and her reflection on her own behavior has evolved so much. Then she’s willing to marry someone who is youthful and romantic ideals wouldn’t necessarily pick but it is much more with respect to a mature perspective that gets her to marry someone who might not be her first choice.
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